The below creative holiday decorating ideas for every design style, from mid-century modern to coastal cool. Melissa Wagner, the lead designer, goes down each style, offering Christmas decorating tips and tricks along the way.

Holiday Decorating Ideas: Modern Farmhouse

When glamming up your farmhouse-style home for the holidays, Wagner recommends keeping things light, simple, and natural. Think: oranges, cloves, cranberries, and endless evergreen for decor, wooden candle sticks, and vintage jingle bells on a ribbon. “This aesthetic is all about the classic and traditional — embrace red and green plaid and all things rustic (like wooden serving bowls, ideally passed down through generations),” adds Wagner. “And don’t forget to bring the cozy — stock the living room with baskets of throw pillows and blankets, and stack wood in the fireplace for warmth all season long!”

Holiday Decorating Ideas: Mid-Century Modern

In Wagner’s opinion, a mid-century modern home doesn’t need a full-on makeover for the holidays. “There’s no need to swap out all of your artwork and decor — just add some seasonal greenery, mood lighting, and textiles like faux fur, shearling, subtle modern plaid, and velvet,” she explains. She especially loves brass or iron candle holders for this look, as well as classic evergreen wreaths and garland. No muss, no fuss, but still brings the holiday feels.

Holiday Decorating Ideas: Coastal Cool

As to be expected, coastal cool holiday style should feel as light, breezy, and laid-back as the off-season look. “Embrace your existing neutral color palette, and add in natural holiday items like a linen tree skirt and woven stockings,” she suggests. “Keep the evergreen light and minimal, and don’t be afraid to bring in some non-traditional coastal blooms, like hellebore, heather, or winter camellia.”

Holiday Decorating Ideas: Modern Luxe

First and foremost, a modern-luxe holiday home should stay true to its monochrome color palette of high-contrast blacks, whites, and light wood. When shopping for seasonal decor, embrace luxe materials and finishes like marble, brass, and glass or crystal (think: CB2’s line of onyx Christmas trees and decorative travertine sleds). “Bring in festive color with classic evergreen or red holly and poinsettias, but keep things clean and minimal,” adds Wagner.

Holiday Decorating Ideas: Classic Cozy

Sometimes, there’s nothing better than a traditional home dressed up in its holiday finest. Take inspiration from the Home Alone house and go all out with jingle bells, mistletoe, reflective ornaments, ribbons, oversized evergreen trees, and a classic palette of red, green, silver, and gold. “Take your cozy factor and dial it up a notch — we’re talking dim lights, a roaring fire, mugs full of spiked cider and hot cocoa, and candles lit 24/7,” adds Wagner. “Maximalist? Minimalist? It doesn’t matter — it’s all about festive nostalgia with this look.”

Following that, we’ll share a few clever tips and tricks that will come in handy for the rest of your post-holiday cleanup tasks! Once you’ve read this post, you’ll be ready to clear out the post-holiday mess and start the new year with a clean slate—and an even cleaner home!

Things To Deep Clean After The Holidays

Fridge

After the last few weeks of cooking, baking, and storing leftovers, your fridge could probably use a good cleaning! Start by throwing out anything that’s old or empty. Then set aside the remaining food so you can clean inside the fridge itself.

Stir 1 scoop of Powerizer into 16 ounces of hot water. Use the cleaning solution and a clean cloth to wipe down the shelves, drawers, and bins. Once everything is clean, replace the food in an organized way. Much better!

Dishwasher

Your dishwasher has been working overtime to clear away all that heavy holiday food residue from your dishes. All that gunk can build up on the inside of your dishwasher and make your dishwasher less effective!

But the good news is that it’s easy to clear out all that food gunk, and leave the inside of your dishwasher looking good as new. Start by hand-washing the removable filters, if your dishwasher has any. Then put 1 scoop of Powerizer Complete into the bottom of your empty dishwasher, and run a cycle on the hottest water setting. And that’s all there is to it!

For more great ways to use Powerizer to keep your dishes clean, check out the post at the link below!

Bathrooms

If you played host to any guests over the holidays, your bathrooms could probably use a good cleaning too. You can use Powerizer Complete to make a cleaning solution that works on countertops, sinks, toilets, tile, floors, and more! Get all the details on cleaning your bathroom with Powerizer at the link below.

 Floors, Carpets & Upholstery

If spills or splatters during your holiday dinners resulted in floor messes or carpet or upholstery stains, use Powerizer to get rid of them! It’s best to tackle those areas now, while the spills are still relatively fresh. (They’ll get harder to remove the longer they sit!)

To clean your floors, dissolve 1 scoop of Powerizer in 1 gallon of warm or hot water. Use this mixture with a mop to mop your floors. To rinse, mop the area again using a bucket of clean water.

To remove stains from carpet and upholstery, stir 1 scoop of Powerizer Complete into 16 ounces of warm water. Transfer the solution to a squeeze bottle and apply it to the stain. Wait 5 minutes, then blot the stain with a clean, wet cloth to lift the stain and rinse the cleaner out. Once the stain is gone, blot the area dry with a clean, dry cloth.

Oven

My oven is currently in pretty rough shape after all the cooking and baking I’ve been doing. But at least I know that with Powerizer, cleaning my oven up will be quick and easy with no harsh chemical smell.

Just mix 1 scoop of Powerizer Complete into 16 ounces of warm water. Then pour the solution into a spray bottle and spray it onto the dirtiest areas for a good spot cleaning. If your oven needs a more heavy duty cleaning, you can make a paste of Powerizer and water for those burnt-on or caked-on areas.

Stovetop

You can use the same amounts of Powerizer and warm water listed above to clean your stovetop! Just pour the solution into a spray bottle and spray it all over your stovetop. Let the cleaning solution sit for a few minutes to break up the mess, then wipe clean with a damp clean cloth.

Stove Hood Filter

It’s easy to forget about your stove hood filter! But it’s important to give it a good cleaning every once in a while. After all, your stove hood won’t do you very much good if the filter is covered in grease!

Add 1 scoop of Powerizer to a big bowl of hot water, and stir to dissolve. Submerge the filter in the water (or as much of it as you can) and let it sit for 20 minutes. Repeat if necessary to clean the rest of the filter, then rinse with clean water. Let your freshly cleaned filter dry completely before replacing it.

Bonus Tips For Post-Holiday Cleanup

Pick Up Pine Needles

Vacuums can struggle to pick up all those stray pine needles that are scattered across the carpet. Instead, use a lint roller to pick them up! It’s easy and effective. (This works for needles from both real and fake trees too!)

Dust Your Garland

Depending on how long you’ve had your garlands hung around the house, they could be looking a bit dusty at this point. Before putting them back into storage, use the cool setting on your hair dryer to blow the dust right off! (Do this outside if possible to avoid blowing dust all over your house.)

Make An Ornament Storage Box

Need someplace safe to store your Christmas ornaments? If you have a spare storage bin handy, you can make your own ornament storage box! All you need is some cardboard, some plastic cups, and your trusty hot glue gun. Check out the full instructions below!

Wrap Your Lights

When you’re putting away your string lights, wrap them around a piece of cardboard first. It’s much easier to store them this way, and they won’t get tangled up! You can also write on the cardboard to remind yourself where you had those lights hanging (like “front porch” or “on the tree,” for instance.)

Set Up A Donation Station

You and your family probably got some new stuff for Christmas. It’s always a good idea to donate the old stuff if you can! Make it easy by setting out a big box where everyone can put the old stuff they’d like to donate. This “donation station” will make it easy to control the post-holiday clutter.

Organize Your Returns

If you or your family received anything you need to return, keep all of those items organized in one place. Tape the receipt to the item (if you have it), and make a note of the date that each item needs to be returned by. You’ll have a much easier time with your returns if you have all the important details written down in once place!

Clean Your Vacuum

In order for your vacuum to work correctly, you need to clean and maintain it! And it could probably use some attention after all that holiday cleanup. Check out my easy step-by-step guide for keeping your vacuum clean at the link below.